If Sir Peter Mathieson’s impending departure was intended to calm troubled waters at Edinburgh University, there is little sign it has had the desired effect.
By the time he steps down in 2028, he will have served as the university’s principal and vice-chancellor for a decade that has been marked largely by expansion - student numbers up from around 42,000 to 50,000 and an annual budget swollen from £1bn to nearly £1.5bn - and industrial strife. (The current strikes came far from out of the blue as we reported last year Why are things turning sour at Edinburgh University?.)
His decision not to seek a third term as principal - that would have taken him past his 73rd birthday - was not surprising, but its timing was inevitably political, writes Louise Nethercott and Matthew Leslie.
As he made the announcement to the University Court, students and striking staff and were chanting and protesting outside.
The protests won’t phase a man who previously served as principal of the University of Hong Hong during highly-charged pro-democracy student protests.
He has made clear his intention to see out the final 16 months of his current term. That will mean seeing through the £150m cuts to its annual budget that he insists are necessary, despite there being “no deficit”, to put the institution on a firm financial footing.
He will do so, not just in the face of opposition from striking academics, and their supporters among their student, but a growing cast of protesters including film stars and theatre directors.
The latest controversy, sparked by the announcement more than 90 degree programmes are to be “taught out” and closed to new entrants, has seen the dispute reach new heights of enmity.
So what is going on at the university and what will these latest cuts mean for the university and its students?
‘A firestorm of misinformation’
More than half of the degree programmes facing closure (48 out of the more than 90) are from the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures (LLC).
Professor Alex Thompson, head of LLC, has defended the move as consolidating courses with low uptake while offering the subjects within other degree programmes.
Many have criticised the decision to cut programmes, particularly the closure of Scottish Literature and Celtic studies, claiming the university is ‘abandoning Scottish culture and its students’.
Robert Irvine, reader in Scottish Literary History, sent out an email to undergraduate students in the English and Scottish literature department, condemning the “extraordinary full-spectrum firestorm of misinformation” featured in many media report.
He told The Edinburgh Inquirer that while certain degree programmes, such as Scottish Literature and Scottish Literature and Scottish History are being closed, this does not mean the courses and content these degrees offer will stop.
Irvine spelled out the difference between these two terms to help clear up some of the confusion and false claims. Programmes refer to the title of the degree - or the “name on the box” - while courses describe the elements that are taught within those programmes - “everything in that box”.
Scottish Literature is set to be axed as a programme, so no graduates after the current course will leave Edinburgh University with a degreed in Scottish Literature. However, this does not mean the content within the programme is being stopped. It will be available within different degrees, or programmes. In the context of budget cuts, he says this will not save any money, “there’s nobody to sack”.
An MA in English and Scottish Literature will allow students to study just as much Scottish Literature as the single honours programme, with 50% of seminars focused on the subject, Irvine said.
Responding to claims this would make Glasgow University the only institution in the country offering Scottish Literature on its own, Irvine let out a frustrated sigh.
